ACT SECOND

PROLOGUE

Enter Chorus.

Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:
Now thrive the armorers, and honor's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man:
They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air,

And hides a sword from hilts unto the point
With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets, 10
Promised to Harry and his followers.
The French, advised by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.

O England! model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,

What mightst thou do, that honor would thee
do,

Were all thy children kind and natural!

Pope transferred the Prologue to the end of the first scene.— I. G.

19. "kind"; filial.-C. H. H.

But see thy fault! France hath in thee found

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A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills
With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted

One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the sec-
ond,

Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,
Have, for the gilt of France, O guilt in-
deed!-

Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,
If hell and treason hold their promises,
Ere he take ship for France, and in South-
ampton.

Linger your patience on; and we 'll digest
The abuse of distance; force a play:

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23. "Richard"; this was Richard Plantagenet, younger son to Edmund of Langley, duke of York, and brother to Edward, the duke of York of this play.-H. N. H.

24. "Henry Lord Scroop"; son of Sir Stephen Scroop in Richard II, and step-brother of the Earl of Cambridge.-C. H. H. 26. "gilt"; gold.-C. H. H.

27. "fearful"; timid.-C. H. H.

com

32. "The abuse of distance; force a play"; so Ff.; Pope, "while we force a play"; Warburton conj. "while we farce a play," etc.; "to force a play" is interpreted by Steevens to mean "to produce a play by compressing many circumstances into a narrow pass." Various emendations have been proposed, but in spite of the imperfection of the line as it stands, no suggestions seem to improve upon it. Perhaps, after all, the line is correct as it stands, with a pause for a syllable at the cæsura, and with a vocalic r in "force," making the word dissyllabic; cp. "fierce," II. iv. 99.-I. G.

We concur with Knight in keeping here exactly to the original text; not that we can pretend to understand it, but because we

The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton;
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,

We'll not offend one stomach with our play. 40
But, till the king come forth, and not till then,
Unto Southampton do we shift our scene.

[Exit.

Humor

Characte

SCENE I

London. A street.

Enter Corporal Nym and Lieutenant Bardolph. Bard. Well met, Corporal Nym.

Nym. Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph. Bard. What, are Ancient Pistol and you friends yet?

see not how it is to be bettered by any lawful correction. The more common reading changes we'll into well, and inserts while we before force, thus: “And well digest the abuse of distance, while we force a play." Mr. Collier retains well instead of we'll, and explains the passage thus: "The Chorus calls upon the audience to digest well the abuse of the scene, arising out of the distance of the various places, and to force a play, or put constraint upon themselves in this respect, for the sake of the drama." Which explanation we give, not as appearing at all satisfactory, but merely in default of a better. We could heartily wish the two lines were away, and are well persuaded they have no business there.-H. N. H.

41. "But till the king come forth," etc.; i. e. "until the King come forth we shall not shift our scene unto Southampton.”—I. G. So in the original; but the sense plainly requires the first till

Nym. For my part, I care not: I say little; but

when time shall serve, there shall be smiles; but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink and hold out mine iron: it is a simple one; but what though? it will toast cheese, and it will endure cold as another 10 man's sword will: and there's an end. Bard. I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends; and we 'll be all three sworn brothers to France: let it be so, good Corporal Nym. Nym. Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may: that is my rest, that is the rendezvous of it.

Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married 20 to Nell Quickly: and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her. Nym. I cannot tell: things must be as they may: men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and some say knives have edges. It must be as

to be when. As the next scene is to be in London, the Chorus warns the spectators to wait for the shifting of the scene to Southampton, till the king comes forth. Perhaps it should be remarked that the shifting of scenes was much more the work of imagination then than it is now, as the senses had little help in a change of places.-H. N. H.

6. "there shall be smiles"; Hanmer conj., Warburton, "there shall be-(smiles)"; Farmer, Collier, 2 ed., "smites" (i. e. blows).-I. G.

13. "three sworn brothers"; in the times of adventure it was usual for two or more chiefs to bind themselves to share in each other's fortunes, and divide their acquisitions between them. They were called fratres jurati.-H. N. H.

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it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell.

Enter Pistol and Hostess.

Bard. Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife: 30 good corporal, be patient here. How now, mine host Pistol!

Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me host?

Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term;
Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.

Host. No, by my troth, not long; for we can-
not lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gen-
tlewomen that live honestly by the prick of
their needles, but it will be thought we keep
a bawdy house straight. [Nym and Pistol 40
draw.] O well a day, Lady, if he be not

drawn now! we shall see willful adultery and el

murder committed.

Bard. Good lieutenant! good corporal! offer nothing here.

Nym. Pish!

Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prickear'd cur of Iceland!

27. “mare"; restored by Theobald from Qq.; Ff. read “name”; Hanmer, "dame"; Collier MS., "jade."-I. G.

28. “conclusions"; attempts. Nym cautiously avails himself of the antiquity of the word.-C. H. H.

31. "How now, mine host Pistol!" Qq., "How do you my Hoste?" giving the words to Nym.-I. G.

41. "O well a day, Lady, if he be not drawn now”; “drawn,” Theobald's emendation; Ff., "hewne"; Malone from Q. 1, “O Lord! here's corporal Nym's "-I. G.

47. "Iceland dog!"; Steevens, Johnson conj.; Ff. read "Island dog"; Qq., "Iseland." There are several allusions to "these shaggy,